BY KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
One of New York City’s
most prolifi c power generating
companies is scrapping
their plans to open a new fossil
fuel-powered generating
station in Sunset Park, and
will close parts of the facility
ahead of schedule as they
move ahead with energy storage.
Eastern Generation announced
last week that they
were withdrawing their application
to “repower” the
Gowanus Generating Station,
a fl oating gas-and-oil burning
facility that sits on four
barges in the Gowanus Bay,
and plans to close two of the
barges as soon as November
2022, six months before they
would be mandated to close
under state emissions regulations,
as they explore energystorage
options for the site.
“PEAK Coalition welcomes
Eastern Generation’s decision
to not only cease its pursuit
for new peaker plants, but also
actively explore renewable energy
and storage solutions on
its properties,” said the PEAK
Coalition, comprised of local
legal and environmental
groups, in a release. “Eastern
Generation should go beyond
Gowanus and Narrows to
close all its peaker plants.”
The now-defunct repowering
COURIER LIFE, D 26 ECEMBER 24-30, 2021
plan, proposed by the
Eastern Generation subsidiary
Astoria Generating
Company in 2019, would have
replaced the existing generating
units at Gowanus with a
smaller number of new, more
effi cient units. AGC planned
to close the nearby, smaller,
Narrows generating station
if and when the new Gowanus
units were operational.
Though AGC claimed the
project would reduce emissions,
local elected offi cials
and environmental groups
immediately began fi ghting
back. The PEAK Coalition, including
the Sunset Park-based
UPROSE, advocated for state
offi cials to deny permits for
the project and encouraged
the company to pursue renewable
and clean energy as an alternative.
“In Sunset Park, high levels
of local air pollution has
caused generations of health
problems from asthma, heart
disease, diabetes, COVID, and
other upper respiratory issues,”
said UPROSE, in a release.
“For the community,
this major victory means
cleaner air, less exposure to
toxic pollutants that harm our
health, and more opportunities
to create well-paying local
green jobs in clean energy!”
The Gowanus Generating
Station is one of three “peaker
plants” Eastern Generation
runs in the city, alongside the
Narrows station and the Astoria
Generating Station beside
the East River. Peaker
plants usually operate only
Eastern Generation’s Gowanus Generating Station, a high-emission
“peaker plant” fl oating on the Gowanus Bay.
Photo by Ken Schles, Food and Water Watch
on the hottest days of the year,
when demand for electricity
to power air conditioners is
at its highest. Despite that,
the plants have high levels
of greenhouse gas emissions
that are harmful to the people
living around them.
“These are some of the dirtiest
emitting smokestacks and
power plants in the country,”
said Anthony Rogers-Wright,
director of environmental justice
at New York Lawyers for
the Public Interest, a PEAK
member. “You name it, carbon
dioxide, particulate matter.”
Sunset Park bears the
brunt of emissions from both
the Narrows and the Gowanus
plants and a third peaker plant
owned by the New York Power
Authority at 23rd Street and
Third Avenue.
They’re going green!
Eastern Generation scraps plans for Gowanus
power plant, turns toward renewables